Terayon bows homegrown CMTS line

Moving beyond its cable modem termination system reseller agreement with Riverstone Networks, Terayon Communication Systems Inc. rolled out two CMTSs of its own: the BW 3500 and BW 3200.

The BW 3500 is a "carrier-class" chassis-based CMTS with 14 individual line cards, while the pizza-box, compact BW3200 model is targeted to small cable systems or to large operators that plan to employ a distributed CMTS approach.

Terayon's new line is based on DOCSIS 1.1 and DOCSIS 2.0, and will use chips supplied by the company's recently spun off Imedia Semiconductor division. Those CMTSs will also house Terayon's "OpenPHY" technology, a platform that employs both S-CDMA (synchronous code division multiple access) and A-TDMA (advanced frequency agile time division multiple access) - two modulation schemes tied directly to the return path-widening DOCSIS 2.0 specification. Terayon claimed that combination will enable the equipment to handle up to three times the upstream throughput of DOCSIS 1.0.

"We see OpenPHY as being a proven technology that we've deployed for years that will help operators offer more services and more revenue generating services to subscribers," said Elisa Camahort, director of product marketing for Terayon's Cable Data Solutions unit. A future product release will likely include virtual private network and multiple capabilities, she added.

Terayon submitted the BW3500 to CableLabs for DOCSIS 1.1 qualification in wave 20, which is expected to conclude in mid-December. Camahort said Terayon hopes to submit the BW3200 for testing in early 2002.

Camahort said Terayon plans to make demo units available to operators in December, and move into volume shipments by next April. No operators have placed orders for Terayon's new CMTS line, but "we have a lot of people anxiously [waiting] to get their hands on the equipment," she said.

The base price of the BW3500 begins at $70,000 per unit, and the BW3200 starts at $28,000, though final pricing depends on volume and configuration.

A Terayon spokesman said the company has no plans to change its relationship with Riverstone and the BE 2000 CMTS, but would not say what the minimum number of units Terayon must sell under terms of the contract.

"They are currently our partner, and we don't have any issues with them," the spokesman said.